Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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150. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of his Department’s efforts to increase mental health supports in education settings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59238/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The mental health and well-being of students is a priority for my Department. My Department has progressed a number of initiatives, in partnership with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), over the last number of years to address the mental health and well-being issues faced by students in higher education.

My Department allocates funding for mental health supports to the HEA for direct disbursement to HEIs. €2 million is provided to address student mental health and well-being in higher education each year. This is allocated by the HEA to HEIs through the recurrent grant.

I am pleased to say that in addition to the €2 million in funding supports made available for student mental health services and well-being in 2022 through core funding, I recently announced that a further €3 million is being allocated to higher education institutions this year in response to a growth in a demand for services since students returned to campus.

The funding being delivered targets the support of student mental health and well-being, with a specific focus on the provision of counselling services. The funding will also be integral to the implementation of the National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Frameworklaunched in 2020, Ireland’s first-ever national approach to address student mental health and suicide prevention. This funding will bring the total amount delivered since the launch of the Framework to €15 million.

Across the first two years of the Framework, HEIs have used these resources to increase capacity in student mental health services, to implement structural change across the sector, to implement suicide prevention strategies and to contribute to the development of institutions that support positive student mental well-being. All HEIs have reported a positive impact as a direct result of the funding received thus far. The employment of student counsellors was reported as the largest expenditure in this area in 2021 which has resulted in a measurable increase in the capacity of student mental health services available to students in higher education.

In the Further Education and Training area, learners may have access to internal psychological supports from qualified Education and Training Board personnel. Funding for these supports are dispersed under general individual programme and learner support headings. SOLAS also allocates funding for Guidance, Counselling and Psychological Services for Youthreach participants.